Jean-Louis Tu wrote:

> The figure "120" was in the Bible.

Actually, the oldest man in the Bible was Methusaleth (sp?) who lived to
be 959 years old. (I'm not exactly sure on the figure, but it is in the
900's)  As far as figures go, the bible isn't very accurate with
figures, so I'd take that with several grains of salt.

> And the oldest woman on earth just
> died a few days ago at 122.

The oldest man on earth was a chinese man who lived to be about 250
years old.  I was highly skeptical of this, but I found it to be
verified by some other sources.  "The Tao of Health, Sex, and Longevity"
by Daniel P. Reid is where I first read it.  Two weeks ago, I stumbled
across another book called "Surviving in the 21th Century" (something
like that; has artwork done by Peter Max), and they mentioned the same
chinese man.  Since they didn't have birth certificates back then,
several professors traced some of the man's history that placed him
somewhere in the 1700's.  When he died, people say that his all his
teeth remained intact, and that he outlived his 25 wives.  Quite
amazing!  The chinese man was an herbalist and advocated eating garlic,
drinking ginseng tea.

Also in the latter book, there are some pictures of old people.  One man
lived to be 125 years old, and became a fruitarian in his last 20
years.  More people were mentioned, but I didn't buy the book.  (If I
do, I'll post some more info)

> I think that the MAXIMUM life span has
> always been about 120. Of course, some genetic variations exist.

I don't think it has to do entirely with genetics.  There are two
theories on aging.  They were already mentioned by the other poster.  I
think that the antioxidants can slow the biological countdown.  Also, as
in the case with the chinese man, there may be a spiritual (or whatever
you want to call it) component that prolongs live.  Breathing
excercises/meditation can prolong life.  I read Paul Bragg's book on
fasting, and he mentioned that when he went to India, he was surprised
at an old man who had no grey hair.  He asked him what the secret was,
and the man told him breathing.

> Those who seek perfection in their diet and think that eating raw will
> make them immortal should be consider that trying to achieve 99%
> perfection (or their IDEA of perfection), instead of 95%, is perhaps
> not worth the trouble. Living 120 years instead of 117? Hm...

Watch it, Jean-Louis, because your paradigm just may be shot in the
future. ;-)  Life Extention Foundation (http://www.lef.org) has the
ambitious goal of conquering aging by the year 2020.  At the moment they
are doing this by research in the areas of vitamins, minerals,
antioxidants, phytochemicals, hormones.  I don't think this will
ultimately do it.  As Dr. Weil coined the term "intergrated medicine", I
believe that conquering aging will be possible by using integrative
medicine which combines ancient practices (yoga, meditation, etc) with
new medical discoveries (antioxidants, hormone replacement).  As far as
obtaining immortality, I don't know, but it would be interesting to see
when the year 2020 rolls around. :-)

As for me, I'd like to live past 120, so I'm starting to plan now.  I'm
just going to assume that nothing tragic happens like getting capped by
a gansta, or dying in a car wreck, or if the "end of the world" occurs
anytime soon. :-)

Walter.
(a big thinker)